Medium format photography

Good morning, or whatever it is...?! I'm getting my mind flipped of this watch system I'm on at the moment, as you might understand.

I like to take photos. A lot! I also like the feel of a little bit bigger negatives than the more commonly 135 films. One of the reasons might be that my eyes are not what they used to be a few years ago. One grows older, and all that... you probably know what I mean.
Medium format cameras. I got four of them, as I got a few of them more or less handed over because of bad situation for the giver. Sickness, and all kinds of no good stuff. But enough of that here and now. 
I got 6x7 format cameras, and I got one 6x6 format. They are great, I must say, even though the bigger ones probably will kill my back at some point. They are huge and heavy things, as you might know. I'm talking about the Mamiya RZ67 system. The Rolleiflex is quite a bit more handy, and the one to go for when I want to travel a bit lighter, as I do, from time to time anyway.

 Developing medium format film is just the same process as doing 135 size, but I have to say the "thrill factor" is a bit more prudent. For me, at least. The above photo was shot in Orkney a couple of years ago, on a truly shitty day - weathervise that is. The day was great, with a good run around the southern part of the islands in with great Craig, the reporter, as a guide. Going on sightseeing with a reporter is a different story, I tell you that. Crazy thing is that these guys are always at work, somehow. One time I found myself part of a carchase searching for fire trucks and flames and whatever I don't know. How's that for a sightseeing? Now you tell me! Couldn't find any fire though, but they had impressive cars and blue lights and what do I know...

I don't know how many shots I ever did of this window! Must have been many rolls of 120 film in total. I have not printed it yet, due to a the lack of a dedicated dark room, but I sure will later when I'm done producing one. I don't have to chase the best angle, light and what have you, of this window anymore though, as I just realized this summer that it's eventually gone. Forever, that is! They picked the thing down. Can you ever imagine? My plan is to sell the print for a high price to the owner of the previous wall, and window. He can't resist that opportunity, I hope. Otherwise I might give him a copy for free. That's the kind of man I am.

The last one is a snap I shot down in the lower ends of The Strynd in Kirkwall, Orkney. The Mamiya RZ67 is not the typical stealth camera you would choose for any old street photo job, but I have done that as well, and it works. At least sometimes. You will get a few surprised faces stuck on film, that's for sure. 

OK, this is not exactly top notch stuff. I totally realize that. It's the only examples I got right here and now though, so they will need to pass no matter what. Well... I still think the snap of the window will surely find it's place and become a classic though. Or it might just be me that got this something about these old windows? I don't have a clue, so you tell me.

Not Forgotten!

I know folks! I've been away for quite a while. Well, not far away, as a matter of fact... just around the corner, but still away from the blog somehow.
I was just developing a couple of rolls, and thought I might better drop in just to give a short update to let all of you know that I'm still standing on two feet.

Holliday here in Norway right now, and that's the biggest reason I've been away for the last few weeks. Not that I've been traveling a lot this year, but anyway...
I've shot a few rolls though, and been developing a couple just this evening.
Basically it's all old stuff though, but I will probably get a couple more done tomorrow. If we're lucky I get some scanned by tomorrow, but that depends a lot on the weather and things that has to be done around the house... you know.

Just found this one... Done some time ago using my old Rolleiflex and some film... think it was Tri-X in Rodinal. Shot near Kirkwall in almost pinch black highlight.

My youngest daughter heading towards the head of the pier. Rolleiflex and some film. 

And that's it for today! 

I'll be in touch, I guess :))

What's wrong here, anyway?

Something just have to be... because as soon as I put this, whatever I will write and post today, online, there will very soon be six or seven people looking at it (at least according to the statistics) and then there will never be any more. Never, ever! 
AND, not only that! The only visitors will be from either Norway or the big USofA. Nowhere else in the world whatsoever, at least that's what the same statistics map tells me. That's a bit strange, isn't it? 
Well, I probably just need to relax a bit about it, and just think that when the world finally finds this, they will probably jump in joy and I will have millions watching... for sure...!

I brought myself and my wife over to Orkney just after christmas last year. Or, I was already there, as my ship docked in there for crewchange, and my wife came over to have a good look at the islands. We like it lots out on these remote isles of britain. We have now done Shetland and Orkney, and the outer Hebrides will have to be next in line I guess. I like the open landscapes, and I really like the people over here. I work with a lot of them on my ship, and the ones living on-shore is not to bad either.
The above picture will be showing a tiny bit of the "entrance" to the beach of Dingieshowe, as posted some time earlier in the blog. A beautiful spot.

Not to forget, we got open landscapes on the coast of Norway as well! Don't misunderstand here! It's a bit the same same, but different. We were more or less totally asleep when cliffs was delivered, Doesn't matter to much, as they got loads of them further west in the ocean. We also lack something else. I don't know exactly what it is, but there's something about the people... so it's at a different level, which I'm probably not that good at. Or I will most definately fail if I try to explain it. Nevertheless, this shot was taken not to very long ago. You should see Alnes on Godøya here, and the lighthouse, even though I picked the wrong lens to give a good shot of only the lighthouse itself. That was not my point with the shot either, so no complaints please. See elsewhere to find a better one. 

Neither do we build our houses the way they do over here... sometimes that's OK, sometimes not. Have a look at The Reel in Kirkwall, a nice cafe and a place to sit down and relax and listen to live music, as there's a lot of that going on in there. 

I got to run! Got things to do before i swish over the sea and home tomorrow just before lunchtime. 

Just a few thoughts... at sea.

My uncle, or may I say my weird uncle, lives way up in the mountains back home in Norway. Not that he's any weird to me, but to a few other he probably is. Because he's bothering around with large format cameras and stuff. You know, proper big boxes with large format huge leafs of film stucked away inside of them somewhere. 
I used to learn to take photos from this man, or at least that's what I think I did, back in the days when I only had my small Minolta Hi-matic G to shoot with. He used to give me a roll of film every now and then, and then I learned how to develop it. You know I still got that little nice fella of a camera, and I still use it nowadays, over 40 years later. 
Well, this weird uncle has been a photographer all his life, more or less. He used to be a reporter, and thereby got quite a few meters of film to answer for if he ever have to. 
He's a great photographer anyway, and some day I really wish I'm able to say I know at least a fraction of all the stuff this man knows about photography! 
That's it of the tale of my weird uncle, for now... 
Ah... forgot my point... he, my uncle, lives in an area full of musk ox and stuff. Huge animals living wild in the norwegian mountains, and I am thinking about getting up there, visiting my uncle and have a proper look at the beasts. He knows where to find them at all times, and got a bunch of great shots of them as well. I was there a few years ago as well... lo and behold, on the very day when all the musk oxes had gathered somewhere totaly elsewhere in the norwegian mountains. Didn't see a single one of them. Pure luck, according to my weird uncle.

How's that for a composition? Who said I only do boring stuff with all kinds of errors one can think of making? I have thought about putting this up on a wall somewhere, but no one seems to understand the value of it. Will need to get that darkroom done, and display it in there, in all it's glory! And yes, it's film! Done on either a Leica M3 or M6, with a good Summicron 35 attached.

There's this blog I'm following. It's called "Boxes and Bellows" and is really great! If you feel like a lunatic one day, or just simply lost, just go over and read a few posts and your life should be back to "normal" quite instantly. The pictures are great, shot on film and all, and the text is just brilliant. At least the parts I understand.

I actually had to start reading from the beginning after having looked through a bunch of the shots first, and have now reached the year of 2013. There Andrea suddenly asks the very essential question: How Many Cameras is Enough...? This has in fact bothered myself for a few years as well, and I truly hoped to find the answer as I read the post. Ofcourse she didn't know either, because there probably is no answer to that very question. Obviously she's thinking about it though, so maybe I'll find out as I read on further up through the years? I very much hope so!

And while we're talking about compositions...!! This is same same, but different... I think. Definately an old Nikon this time. Either FM2 or maybe even FE2, but I doubt it. Some film, and some Nikkor lens... and it's shot out on the western cliffs of Orkney Mainland, around Yesnaby.

I just heared that I am going to Oslo before getting myself home this time. Oslo is allways OK, as long as it's not for a longer period of time. This is only for a couple of days, so I will survive. I immediately checked my stock of film in my lousy camera bag with loads of hiding places, and could only find very few. A couple of HP5's and a roll of Fomapan 100. I checked the possibility of getting film down there, and luckily some hotshot still has some film in his shop. I need to unseeingly sneek in and get some during my stay down there, I guess. 

Just had to post this. Taken with a real delight of a camera, a Voigtländer Vito B, handed down from my father. See that lovely flare coming in from the left? That's partly because of the window over there, and partly the fact that the lovely little 50mm lens on this camera is totally uncoated. This is my daughter by the way :))

How is it even possible...?

As all 0 of you will know by now, I work on a ship. There's a lot of others working on the same ship as well, and there are offices not to far from my cabin. Every office and cabins have at least one, often a bunch of, telephones. We are calling each other if we need to speak to someone, which is quite useful and also quite normal in other offices as well, I would think. 
What's weird though, is that some times someone never give up a call when no one is answering the phone! You would think that if you call someone that's sitting 30 cm from their phone would be able to pick it up within a minute or so?? Why wake up the whole ship to get hold of someone that's obviously not there anyway? Someone on board probably have some kind of strange way to make themselves heard.

The beach of Dingieshowe in Orkney, a most lovely beach where norse people has thread before. Shot with a Leica M6, Summicron 35mm on Tri-X film. Not the best choice maybe, but I had a few rolls I had to finnish off.

So, you might think I actually fixed that separator yesterday, didn't you? No way! Tested today, and found even more issues with it. Worked on it for hours just to eventually find the photocell detecting oil in water to be bugging up the whole unit. A 25 sec. job to clean out. Now it's good though, so tomorrow will be a brighter day, at least seen in that perspective. 

Ever seen the view from our cottage by the sea at Sulesund, Norway? Well, here it is anyway. Taken some time ago with that same Leica M6, but with a different lens this time. Elmarit 21mm wide angle stuff. I have no clue of what film was used, as I am far away from the originals out here at sea.

Friday today, and weekend coming up. Not that it makes any difference out here, but it's allways good to know that time flies and that you soon will be home. Need to start the usual routine of getting all the paperwork done for my back to back. I guess I will make it in time this trip as well. 

Look what I found! A never before posted pinhole photo from Ona once again. It's shot in the middle of the island, in between the houses cramped together to get room for them all. Mind you, this is a super wide angle view of it all, and not to be taken for reality! It's kewl tho :)

Ahhh...!

So! You can actually also put in a title at the top line nowadays?! A good thing that I found out then, already in my fifth post. 
Today's been quite a good day at work, as we (or I, myself actually) found out what seemed to be the plague inside our bilge water separator in the engine room! It's not the usual type, mind you! It's a high-tech wonder from either Finland or Sweeden, and it looks more like a moonlander than anything else. Almost as advanced as one as well, so no wonder we have been struggeling a bit lately with that bloody machine.

Ever seen the island called Foula? Probably not, unless you got a big ship and/or live in an area around Orkney or Shetland. Well, this is her silhouette, and I love it! I like grain as well, at least sometimes, when I find them in my photos. 

Last night I was going to move one of my cameras, a Nikon FE2, and managed to kind of throw it from the bedroom, through the bathroom door (not a great distance due to this being a ships cabin), and onto the floor tiles in there somewhere. The noise was truly bad, and the camera looks even more battered in todays daylight than it did in yesterdays daylight. It still works fine though, but I got to wonder how many lives a 105mm f/2.5 Nikkor lens really have?! If anyone knows the answer, please don't hesitate to give me a hint. This is it's second very hard fall, in addition to a number of ligher ones. 

Looks like I need to buy a few new (cheepo) straps for a couple of the cameras sooner rather than later. Not that any of the cameras are any expensive high-end stuff, but I use the bastards every now and then, and would like them to live for a few more years.

Ona, a tiny small wee island where I got a few rooms and a roof over my head. There's a nice lighthouse there as well. You see a lot of the island on this shot, done with a pinhole camera not to long ago. You see, it's complete with fingerprints and all.